The Benefits of Eco-Friendly Office Cleaning Services

With climate change wreaking havoc across the planet, most organisations are increasingly thinking about their impacts on the environment and how best to reduce their carbon footprint. Many entrepreneurs and business owners have made the switch to using eco-friendly, sustainable materials in the manufacture of their products and are doing away with single-use plastic. But one aspect of owning a business is also ensuring your office or facility itself is run sustainably. One thing that often falls under the radar is the use of cleaning products in office cleaning and their effects on the planet and on our own health.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of litres of chemicals from cleaning products are washed into our oceans, streams and rivers. The fumes from these chemicals also end up in the air we breathe and then find their way inside our bodies. Moreover, the empty bottles are often made from materials that are non-recyclable and the chemicals within them classify as hazardous materials. If you’ve been on the fence about switching over to more eco-friendly office cleaning services, here are a few benefits of doing so that might help you make your decision:

Better for the environment

As mentioned above, regular cleaning products are filled with toxic chemicals that inevitably get washed down our drains and end up in our rivers, streams and oceans. These then not only kill entire ecosystems in the oceans but also damage the soil, air and waterways, which in turn is responsible for climate change.

Office cleaning services that use green products pay attention not only to the cleaning prowess of the products they use, but also to their toxicity levels. If your office or organisation is trying to decrease your carbon footprint, sustainable cleaning services are the way to go. Choosing green cleaners that have been certified by Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) are an excellent way to reduce your impact on the environment. Some office cleaning businesses also offer chemical-free alternatives.

Better for the health and safety of your employees

Only 3% of the 10,000 new chemicals that make it onto our shelves each year in Australia are tested by the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS). Studies conducted in Norway have revealed that simply cleaning once a week with common cleaning products over the course of 20 years can result in significant lung damage. Given that offices are typically cleaned more frequently than just a week, it would take much less time for your employees to start suffering from health problems due to the products your cleaning company is using! Now think about the cleaners using these products every single day!

Moreover, certain cleaning products are filled with fragrances in attempts to mask the odours of chemicals, which can also be highly irritating for your employees, causing headaches and loss in productivity.

Less waste ends up in landfills

Sustainable and eco-friendly cleaning product manufacturers also ensure that the packaging used for their products is made from environmentally-friendly materials that can be easily recycled. Moreover, regular cleaning products are typically classified as hazardous material and require special recycling facilities to recycle the bottles they come in. As a result, most of the empty bottles of toilet cleaner, surface and floor cleaners and window cleaners end up in the landfill and in our oceans. Our landfills are already overflowing, and the toxic fumes being released from these dumps are damaging our ozone layer, further accelerating climate change.

They don’t cost extra money

The best part of using sustainable products and cleaning services for office cleaning? The cost! Many business owners mistakenly believe that green cleaning services will be more expensive than standard ones. In reality, green products are not only available at very similar prices as regular cleaning products, they actually help you save money by reducing sick days off, increasing your customers and employees’ trust in your brand and can be used as a great marketing strategy to increase profits